The Patriots have been lauded and compared to many things in recent years, but injured Chargers fullback Lorenzo Neal came up with an original thought in mid-September.
A spider monkey?
Shortly after the Patriots' 38-14 home-opening victory over the Chargers, Neal talked in the visiting locker room at Gillette Stadium about how he and his teammates had been pounced upon with decisive force.
The Patriots came out in a no-huddle offense and scored on their opening drive. Whack! Then they intercepted quarterback Philip Rivers on the Chargers' first play. Double whack!
"They jumped on us like a spider monkey," Neal said. "They came out and scored 7, and offensively we didn't match their intensity."
Neal's choice of primate might have been a bit off - spider monkeys generally prefer to retreat, not fight - but his point was well taken. The Patriots were like caged animals that night. By the time kickoff arrived, it was as if the zookeeper unlocked the key and set them free to cause havoc.
The Patriots were ahead, 14-0, midway through the first quarter, and 24-0 at the half. As the game unfolded, the near-flawless opening drive turned out to be the knockout punch.
That Sept. 16 matchup, in Week 2 of the season, is a natural starting point when analyzing Sunday's rematch in the AFC Championship game at Gillette Stadium.
For the Patriots, who were coming off an emotional week dominated by talk of Spygate, tempo was identified as a top priority.
After the Patriots won the opening coin toss, quarterback Tom Brady operated out of a three-receiver set and led the team on a seven-play, 69-yard scoring march, which took just 2:46. The only time the offense huddled was before the first play.
"We wanted to go out there and try to make some plays happen fast, to get into our rhythm and make them play to our strengths, which is getting the ball going and making some quick plays," tight end Benjamin Watson said that day. "That kind of set the tone for us, to get the ball out there and impose our will."
The plan limited the Chargers' ability to substitute. San Diego stayed in its base 3-4 defense, which was easily picked apart by Brady, with a major assist coming from the pass protection up front against the Chargers' powerful pass rush. Running back Kevin Faulk delivered a big block on the key play of the drive, a 34-yard hookup to Wes Welker.
The Chargers were immediately back on their heels, and it didn't help that starting inside linebacker Matt Wilhelm - the quarterback of the team's 3-4 defense who makes sure every player is lined up correctly - had strained his calf in pregame warmups. That threw untested second-year player Tim Dobbins into a high-pressure situation.
In all, the Patriots had 407 net yards, while holding the Chargers to 201. The time-of-possession game favored New England in a landslide, 35:46-24:14.
Getting ahead early was deemed crucial by Patriots coach Bill Belichick.
"San Diego is a hard team to play from behind with their running game and pass rush," Belichick said in his postgame news conference. "You're better off trying to play ahead, and fortunately that's where we were the whole game."
While the Chargers currently are banged up in key areas on offense, they have undergone a few significant defensive changes since that game.
After missing two games following the loss to the Patriots, Wilhelm returned as an invaluable presence on the interior of the Chargers' hard-charging defense. And cornerback Antonio Cromartie, an emerging star with an NFL-leading 10 interceptions this season, moved from substitute to starter.
Offensively, there was a midseason switch at right tackle, with Jeromey Clary in for Shane Olivea. At receiver, Chris Chambers was acquired from the Dolphins at the trade deadline, and third-year pass-catcher Vincent Jackson, a towering presence at 6 feet 5 inches, 241 pounds, has come on strong.
But perhaps the most significant change came in the marriage between the players and first-year coach Norv Turner and his staff.
More players have bought into Turner's program, and in turn, Turner became more flexible and adopted some football-specific changes that some players requested. Ditto for first-year defensive coordinator Ted Cottrell.
Now seemingly all are on the same page after eight straight wins, the coaches and players are preparing to return to the site of their worst loss of the season.
It's not only the AFC Championship game. It's a chance to get that pesky spider monkey off their back.
